>Nearby the Safehold, Safe Harbor_

It was a pleasant morning, in the opinion of Lord-Mayor Talem.

It was somewhat early. The sun had fully risen over the waterline horizon, casting the world around him in a warm orange light. Two of the three sister moons were yet to recede from the great light’s gaze, hovering steadily over the foothills that made up the skyline across from the sea.

The sounds of songbirds announcing their presence in a new day filled the air, accompanying the faint smell of dew and thin fog that came with the rolling crash of gentle waves and smell of sea spray that was simply part of living by the seaside.

From his vantage point at the Safehold’s gate entrance, he could see and hear the old human city beginning to wake up. Citizens emerged from their abodes, exchanging greetings and parcels, carrying out chores or other menial tasks. Those who ran the markets organized their wares and set up their shops in the hopes of attracting the attention of those with some coppers to spare.

It was peaceful.

And that gave him conflicting emotions.

On one hand, every human either had it hammered into them by dutiful parents (or they learned the hard way) that to let one’s guard down in this world was to tempt the claw of death. The human that allows himself to grow relaxed, complacent, careless will be the soonest to go missing.

Even as distant from the great reptilian menaces as they were at Safe Harbor, people regularly vanished. Sometimes farmers that went out to tend their hidden gardens never came home. Other times, the hunters that set out from the city limits trying to either bring down game or locate and return lost livestock didn’t come back with the setting sun. The brave lunatics that volunteered to man the small alarm bell towers or to be couriers of important information between human settlements were often never seen again.

On the other hand, the calming scene more likely than not served an ointment for the restless mind much like balm for an old sore. It was within the realm of the possible that should the denizens of Safe Harbor be confronted with a far more bleak landscape that surrounded their home and place of refuge, that the steady strain of impending dragon attack should induce the spread of madness amongst many.

For he had heard tales arising from villages in the darker, northern regions of the continent where dragons, particularly the infamous mountain dragons, roamed yet more frequently. Tales of swaths of men having their faculties reduced almost to that of mere animals after days, weeks, even months of hiding from near-constant dragon patrols. If there was any-a-way to make an already bad situation into a worse one, it was to panic. Every human was forced to learn from a young age to control their panic, but it proved difficult to do that if you could no longer fully control yourself at all.

That wasn’t even the worst it could get. Stories spread from the Great Tundras, where frigid nights could stretch for weeks and Ice Dragons lurked. Those tales were normally only uttered to frighten rebellious adolescents for a reason.

Lord-Mayor Talem sighed. Perhaps the comparatively pleasant place and warm weather where Safe Harbor was built were a blessing in that regard. A gift.

Even if the tranquil surf sometimes lured her residents into letting their guard down, he, and most everyone else, would much rather have it than not.

Still, it’s far more difficult to appreciate something if you aren't alive to do so. That part of him nagged, as it did without fail.

Nevertheless, today was a special day. It was a child’s chance in a dragon den that he would have gotten up this early otherwise. Many names could, and have, been used to describe Lord-Mayor Talem. ‘Early-riser’ was not among them.

“Forgive me, Lord Talem? May I ask you a… perhaps personal question?” The smooth sound of a young woman’s voice came from beside him.

He shook himself from his reverie with an unstately snort. He glanced over to regard the speaker, one of the members of the translation effort with the foreigners. Rosemary, he believed her name to be.

He’d met her before, on that first day the foreigners managed to dock a few of their ships to their piers. Back then, she- and really everyone else- only knew hardly more than a handful of the stranger’s spoken tongue. Now though, she was to serve as his personal interpreter. At least for today’s task.

It was a little bit odd, that a person of such meager accomplishments and status should be assigned such a vital position as the translator to the second-largest human city’s leader. Especially to Talem’s delegates and the Heads of the local Houses. Talem was swift to silence their paltry objections, however. He rather liked the young lady. He could tell she was intelligent, and she had a no-nonsense attitude about her that he appreciated.

Perhaps it was somewhat dishonorable for him to do so, but he was lord-mayor, and they weren't.

Talem had always cared little for formalities, and he hated it when people tried to grovel to him. Enough to even have them lashed for it on a bad day. Rosemary, despite being a commoner, never attempted anything of the sort. She was rather frank, at least enough to be willing to ask him a ‘personal question.’ However, she did still cut him the respect befitting a city’s lord. Utilizing proper mannerisms when appropriate and addressing him by his full title.

That last bit actually did chafe him a bit. Talem held a strange personal dislike towards being referred to as ‘lord’ or ‘lord-mayor’ ever since he was barely more than a teenager. Before he himself even took up the position. Whilst he, even all these years in, couldn’t for the life of him determine precisely why it irked him so, he could at least come to terms with it. Being officially referred to as ‘lord,’ anyway. Rosemary, and people like her, were partially to thank for that.

No matter his personal feelings on the matter, lordship of a human city in this land was a daunting task. A task that requires respect from all involved, not least from whoever is appointed as lord himself. With so much at stake, it was vital that an air of authority should be maintained and respect be paid. As much as he might wish to simply wave people off and insist that they simply refer to him as just ‘Talem’ at times, he knew those traditions were in place for a reason. The consequences of breaking those customs for something as menial as his personal feelings could be immense, given the existential threat the dragons always posed.

Therefore, it was honorable to maintain always being referred to by his titles as an extension of the respect others should bestow him. Regardless of whether or not he necessarily liked it.

Truly a lord’s dilemma. He thought to himself with a wry smile.

“...I’m sorry?” The young Rosemary said, peering at him.

Did I say that aloud? Scorch. No matter, redirect the topic!

“Er.. Nevermind. You wanted to ask me a question?” The Lord-Mayor returned.

He never was particularly adept at political speaking, either.

“The foreigners are yet to arrive, although I guess we are here early. In the meantime, this may sound a little strange but… what is something that you hate most about being the lord-mayor of Safe Harbor?” The young interpreter asked.

Lord-Mayor Talem raised his brows. That was certainly not a question he was expecting to receive. He imagined most people would be more inclined to inquire about what, say, his favorite aspect of being the lord-mayor was. Or perhaps a more general question about what it was simply like to be lord-mayor.

Although, to Rosemary’s credit, the question did give him pause for thought. She probably wanted an answer more substantial than: ‘I don’t like when people refer to me by my actual official title.’ Or something along those lines. In truth, that was merely a mild peeve compared to the things he truly hated, of which there were plenty.

“Well…” He considered aloud. “I assume you want to know about something that’s intrinsic to being the city’s lord, yes?”

“Sure…” She nodded.

That narrowed it down a little bit. The most common functions of Safe Harbor’s lord-mayor mostly included settling disputes between various citizens, being the figurehead of relations to other human settlements, managing the allocation of precious resources towards various projects and Houses, keeping the Houses themselves in check, collecting Census information from the people of the city, and payroll of the Archer Guard. Among many other things.

There were many things about being lord-mayor that Talem disliked simply because of how much time-consuming work (especially paperwork) they entailed, but wouldn’t deign to go so far as to say he hated them. They were simply his job to do. As the old saying went; Life is work. Work is what it is. No use complaining about it. That was a lesson that every human, from the poorest gatherer in the middle of dragon-infested lands to the wealthiest House Head in the Indestructible City did well to know.

Indeed, one of the things that wore his temper thin- even more so than when some people tried to grovel to him in a vain attempt to win favor- was when other people elected to whine about their day to day labors in his presence. Something that the other lesser nobles and mayoral delegates made a habit of.

Unfortunately, he couldn't have them lashed, despite how much he might want to sometimes. Not if he cared anything for the longevity of his position as the city's mayor, anyway.

But that too wasn't something Talem attributed as a part of his lordship duties (For he felt that he would despise that behavior regardless of his personal status). Just as he thought it unfair to label something that was just his job to do as lord-mayor as something he hated about being lord-mayor.

Talem pondered the question. In truth, there were probably multiple things he was particularly averse too. For instance, he was never fond of how distant being lord-mayor made him sometimes feel.

While pragmatism is considered to be a virtue amongst all humans he knew of, it was emphasized far more in human rulers. To the point of being one of the major focal points citizens of any given settlement will focus on when determining whether or not they approve of their lord’s character.

Put simply, human rulers should- and are expected to- make ‘the hard decisions.’

A good lord-mayor should be emotionally detached, operating almost entirely on logic and never letting his judgment be clouded by love, grief, hatred, pity, rage or greed. That is why he never had a wife or children. The consequences for making a foolish blunder are rarely anything but immense in this world, for humans like him.

People can, will, and have died because their city ruler made a mistake.

If that wasn’t enough, the ‘hard decisions’ that the rulers of large human cities rarely didn’t entail sacrifices.

Now, that wasn’t something that Lord-Mayor Talem could claim as exclusive to him. According to him, every human made sacrifices in their own way, no matter who they were. Even the humble fisherman sacrificed their valuable daylight hours when they trekked out along the shoreside or up the river to search for fishing spots rather than spending them doing something else within the city, such as spending time with his family or studying how to read. (And likewise, the inverse was true as well.)

However, said hypothetical humble fisherman didn’t have other lives at stake in his day-to-day decisions, beyond his own. That was not something that the Lord-Mayor shared in common, as the city ruler.

And some of the ‘hard choices’ he had to make, especially during his younger years as lord-mayor, still kept him awake late into the night staring wall-eyed at the ceiling in his quarters sometimes. Even after all these years.

Talem sighed. He mustn't let that sort of thing get to him. It just wasn’t proper. Besides, those dilemmas were simply part and parcel to being the figure of authority in almost any context, not just with being the lord-mayor of Safe Harbor.

In fact, he might go so far as to say that he, and his city, were even fortunate in that regard. Safe Harbor, despite being the second-largest human settlement on the continent, was actually pretty quiet the majority of the time due to its relative isolation. The same could not be said for the first-largest human city on the continent, the Indestructible City.

The City of the Mountain saw a lot more activity and attention due to its relatively central location on the continent, by both humans and dragons. Both of the times that Lord-Mayor Talem had visited on diplomatic envoys, the fortress city was overcrowded by people seeking shelter, and was regularly besieged by hunting dragons looking to snatch people off the walls and carry them off or just set a building afire for seemingly no reason.

The Invincible Lord, Talem’s counterpart as the only other human on the continent that could justifiably claim the title of lordship, was far more adept at making those ‘difficult decisions’ that troubled Talem so. But just as Talem was an exception amongst the rule of lords for his lackluster attitude towards lordly formalities and aversion to groveling, so too was the current Invincible Lord for his almost reptilian calculative callousness.

“...Lord-Mayor? Are you alright? You appear to be staring off into space.” He heard Rosemary’s voice.

Talem shook himself. “Oh! Er… yes. Apologies, young Rosemary. I am alright. Your question simply gave me pause for thought, and I have a habit of engaging myself in internal monologue.” He allowed himself a small chuckle. “Simply ask my secretaries, for I am certain they tire of sorting through my many unnecessary memoirs.”

The young woman only nodded, probably concealing a concerned expression.

“Although, to answer your question adequately, are you aware of the Census?” He asked her.

To his mild surprise, she nodded. “Yes, sir. The Census is where you are given a list that has the names of all the people who currently reside in Safe Harbor?”

“Pretty much, yes.” Talem responded. “More specifically, it’s a large collection of lists I get from all the House Heads every third moon cycle regarding all the people that live in or are simply staying within their respective district, as well as their current age and date of birth.”

“I imagine that would be a lot of paperwork.” Rosemary said.

Oh, you have no idea.

Compiling a full list of the names of all roughly 2,100 people that lived at Safe Harbor from the loose collection of smaller lists given to him by the mostly-cooperative House Heads into a single location while ensuring no errors on his part every month was easily the most time-consuming and boring of his many duties as lord-mayor.

But even that wasn’t something he considered to be what he hated about his position, because it was just something that he had to do as lord-mayor just as all the lord-mayors before him had. It didn't seem right to associate something that was his burden to do as something he hated about being lord-mayor.

In fact, he sometimes let himself consider it a little bit neat. The Census list was sometimes put on display on the Safehold’s gate, so that the citizens of Safe Harbor could freely come up and see that humans were still plenty, and that they need not give up hope for survival. New arrivals, or people fearing the worst could go and see if those who they were looking for were at least still alive.

“Indeed it is.” He said aloud. “But it isn’t the paperwork itself that I despise, though it does drag on me.”

Talem sighed, he didn’t much like saying the next part.

“But most people are less aware of a secondary function that the Census possesses. For it is also my duty to compile a secondary list of names, the names that were on the previous moon cycle’s Census, but are not to be found in the latest compilation.”

That was what Talem truly hated most about being lord-mayor. He hated writing those lists. He hated inscribing the date of birth and final age of those whose names fail to appear on the latest Census. He hated how heavy the book of names felt every time its pages had been filled. He hated how impersonal it felt, simply ascribing an entire memory of a person into ink marks on a paper within a book filled with countless similar marks.

He hated that he knew the names of every single person who lived in his city that died to dragons since his reign began.

Every.

Single.

One.

There was a box. Deep in the Safehold, in one of the oldest, deepest locked storage rooms in the castle there was an ancient giant chest, almost as tall as he was. That was where the names went. That was where all the names went, for almost as long as the city stood. The result of an oath sworn long ago.

He hated that box. That scorching, scorching horrible box. He hated how big it was. He hated how it sat alone in the underground room where flame should never reach it. He hated how full it was. He hated that he could never hope to move it on his own. He hated his annual trips down to it to feed it every time a book of names had been filled.

Years ago, in a moment of weakness, he lost himself to tears peering into its document-filled depths. Another time, he grew ill and was sick onto the floor before it. He had to clean the mess himself, as he dared not call a servant down into that room.

More than once, he had even considered resigning as lord-mayor. Just so that he could never have to lay eyes on that scorching box again.

The Box haunted him.

“Oh.” Rosemary the translator said with a much softer voice. “I… I’ve never heard of such a list.”

“Few have, other than you, me, and the previous lord-mayors. It’s a bit of an ‘open secret’ as you may call it. Officially, there is no law forbidding anyone from knowing of them and even seeing them, but they are somewhat withheld from the public eye, so to speak.”

She turned and gave him a look. “Why?”

That was another thing Talem found himself fond of in terms of Rosemary’s apparent character. Few others of her standing would be brazen enough to be so blunt with the city’s lord-mayor.

“Well, to put it simply, the potential outcomes that should come from displaying the long list of names of those taken are not beneficial. Either it would inflict a devastating wound to the already weak will to survive and fight of the citizens, or it may stir a blinding rage up from within them. Neither of those are particularly good for the longevity and stability of our city.”

“Oh. I suppose that makes sense… but I would like to see that list for myself, at least.”

No, you don’t.

“As I said, there’s no law preventing you or anyone else from seeing it, if you wish.” Was what he said anyway.

But that discussion would have to wait for another time. There was a commotion coming from down one of the cobblestone roads leading from the stout buildings of the city proper to the Safehold. People within shops, inns or taverns were sticking their heads out windows to get a view of what was going on. Others emerged from their places of dwelling to join a small crowd forming.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Lord-Mayor Talem sighed slightly through his nose. It seemed that, even after all the days they've been here, the foreigners drew an audience whenever they made an appearance.

Sure enough, the figures of what looked to be at least a dozen foreigners of various outfits accompanied by even more Safe Harbor residents turned a corner from behind a blacksmith's shop and came into the view of him, Rosemary, and the handful of Archer Guards calmly standing at ready around him.

Not for the first time, Talem could not help but notice the distinct difference in gait the foreigners walked with compared to the Pyhirrian humans just beside them. They strut with an almost casual fearlessness in their step, never once sparing even a glance skywards, as if hardly a thing struck them with worry. He would admit, only to himself, that he was but a little envious of their confidence.

Near the center of the foreigner’s procession was the tall man Talem had met the night they first arrived. Cap-ten Drae’k, he remembered his name to be. Or wasn't ‘Cap-ten’ a title of sorts? He believed that to be the case.

The lord-mayor hadn’t seen much of the foreign leader since their initial meetings. Presumably, they’d both been busy. Talem with managing a slowly growing disquiet among many of his delegates and the common citizens about the foreigner’s presence and their implications, and Drae’k probably with… whatever it was that his position entailed.

It had been a long, long time since Talem himself had taken to the waves on a vessel under his command, not since but a couple of years after assuming his current title. Even then, his old boat was nothing compared to even one of the foreigner’s hulking castles pretending to be watercraft. And he simply had no idea what it would be like to be a commander of an entire fleet of ships.

A Commodore.

All that is to say that Lord-Mayor Talem had been very busy, and he was sure that Cap-ten Drae’k was too. Though he wasn’t entirely sure what the younger man was busy with.

Now though, they could hopefully engage in more meaningful dialogue, thanks to the efforts of people like Rosemary beside him.

For today, Talem was here because he’d been personally requested to lead a ‘tour’ of the city. The whole city. Apparently by, and for, the aforementioned Cap-ten Drae’k.

An interesting, if odd, concept. Normally, when new arrivals to the city came, it was expected that they simply explore Safe Harbor and all its facets on their own. However, those new people at least came from other Pyhrrian settlements, and therefore had at least a benchmark for how human societies around here tended to be organized. These strangers, whoever they were, and wherever they came from, did not. Probably not, anyway. At least they didn't have much background knowledge on how Pyhirrian-specific human settlements were typically structured. Granting them such a tour of the city from the mayor himself would serve to alleviate that, and should prove an appropriate time to share some of the more technical details of Safe Harbor.

It could also perhaps provide an appropriate time for him to pitch a few questions of his own regarding the land in which these strangers hailed from.

Talem felt the prickling sensation of many eyes trained upon him. He knew they came not from the procession ahead, for that sensation was gleaned only when you were being watched from beings outside of your own view.

It was pretty common that Talem would feel this way when in town. His presence tended to draw eyes, for obvious reasons. However, it seemed a bit peculiar that some should opt to stare at him rather than the much more interesting new people down the street.

With a practiced casualness, he cocked his head to peer towards the most probable direction he deemed the stare to come from. His eyes immediately locked onto but a handful of figures standing in the shadow of an awning of one of the nearby House facilities, clad in official-looking attire.

Ah. I should’ve guessed as much.

It would seem that at least some of the House Heads had grown in their confidence, or in their dissatisfaction, if they were now willing to send people to watch him.

He snorted. Creepy as it were, he had come to expect it. It wasn’t unusual that the uppers of the various Houses of Safe Harbor would try to pull stunts like this around the time that taxes came due in order to wheedle their way out of surrendering as many of their precious House funds as humanly possible. In fact, it had become almost tradition.

Records from previous lord-mayors more lenient towards their antics told of the strange, and interesting, lengths city bureaucrats were willing to go. In one particular case, where the acting mayor at the time had responded to their harassment attempts not with sanctions or reprisals, but with harassment antics and peculiar stunts of his own. Leading to a ‘feedback-loop’ of ever more elaborate and extreme pranks between the Office of Lordship and the various Houses of Safe Harbor. Eventually culminating in one of their docks very nearly being destroyed.

Whilst records that he’d personally read indicated that the acting mayor at the time and even many of the House officials had actually taken the whole strange sequence of events in good fun, the citizens had felt rather scandalized. The acting mayor was ousted shortly afterwards. Legislation in that regard subsequently was made far more strict.

As a result, there was little more the House officials could do than pester him. Something they were already continent-class experts at, in his opinion.

That actually reminded him of something…

“By the way, young Rosemary.” He said.

“Eh? Er… Yes, my lord?” She broke her gaze from one of the foreigners she was staring at and regarded him.

“I don’t believe I ever asked, or perhaps you’ve already informed me, but it slipped my mind… Which of this city’s houses do you belong to?” It perhaps wasn’t the best of times to ask that question right before they had an audience with the strangers, but knowing which House a person he knew he was going to be frequently interacting with for the foreseeable future was crucial information to know for him.

Every human of Safe Harbor, excluding those directly employed by the Office of Lordship (including himself) and the Castle Archer Guard, was a member of one of the City’s various Houses. That was simply how all human society on this continent was organized. From the smallest roving squalor villages in the most dragon-infested lands where a House could literally consist of a single abode and family, to the Indestructible City where the House of Masonry alone had about a thousand members.

“Oh. Well, I’m officially part of the House of Education of Safe Harbor, my lord.” Rosemary said.

Lord Talem raised his brows a slight amount. That was one of the smaller, and less annoying, Houses that he had to deal with.

“I see. Are you a teacher? You seem a bit young for that.”

“Not really, no. Just an assistant.”

“Hmm.” He didn’t say anything further, instead turning to face the oncoming foreign procession. He didn’t think himself knowledgeable enough in that field of expertise to comment anything meaningful further.

“We ought to continue this conversation at a more appropriate time, as it would seem our job here is about to commence.” He said.

“Okay.” Rosemary responded. He peered at her from the corner of his eye. That was not a phrase from human Standard, but instead a foreign word he’d noticed spreading around at almost viral speeds even amongst those outside of direct contact with the new people. As far as he could tell, it was simply a generic affirmation/confirmation/acknowledgement article.

No matter. The foreign procession finally made it into earshot range, and Lord Talem put on his diplomatic face. He approached the small crowd, and made to once again exchange the universal human greeting gesture that was a simple handshake with Cap-ten Drae’k. Interpreter Rosemary and his own small Archer Guard quickly catching up.

After exchanging a cursory greeting in their own languages, Cap-ten Drae’k said drew himself up to his full- much taller than Talem- height and said something magnanimous sounding in English. Rosemary quickly offered an interpretation.

“I, Cap-ten Drae’k, on behalf of the United States of… A’meri-ca and United States armed forces would like to extend an official greeting to the mayor of Safe Harbor of Pyrrhia.” She seemed to get a bit tripped up on some of the more ‘foreign’ of the foreigner’s words, but Talem nonetheless had to commend her mastery of the strange language.

Not for the first time, Talem wondered briefly about the nature of the foreigner’s apparent leader and the land they all hailed from. From what he could tell by analyzing his behavior, and from what people often close to the foreigners like Rosemary had told him, Talen had come to suspect that Cap-ten Drae’k was something to his own State that the Archer Guard Regimenters were to him and Safe Harbor at large.

He held himself like an officer over troops, as differently as he and Talem and Drae’k would no doubt define ‘troops.’

It was a little strange to think about it like that, comparing Cap-ten Drae’k to the Archer Guard Overseers of the Safehold, when he in truth probably held more power in his hand than even the Invincible Lord.

The man he just shared a handshake with could very possibly be the most powerful human on the entire continent.

So don’t whiff this, you idiot. The Lord-Mayor berated himself.

“Likewise I, Lord Talem, acting mayor of the great human city of Safe Harbor and head of the Office of Lordship and Mayoral Office of Safe Harbor, officially extend our cordial greetings to you and yours. Welcome to Pyrrhia.” Despite himself, Talem found he was withholding a small smile. He realized he’d never had a chance to say that phrase in any official capacity until now.

From there, the conversation continued at a much more casual pace. It turned out that all the Safe Harbor citizens the foreigners had with them were able to speak their language to varying extents, and offered their own translations in addition to Rosemary’s, or to questions asked by the small unit of Guards Talem had with him.

Cap-ten Drae’k said something appraising-sounding, which Rosemary informed him was a compliment towards Safe Harbor’s pleasant climate. Talem simply took the complement, not really having the heart to throw it back by informing him that humans around here actually considered overcast and stormy weather to be optimal, given that dragons tended to be more reluctant to hunt in such skies.

‘May you dwell under clear skies’ was actually considered a sort of bad-luck curse by many. Talem wondered about how much of a cultural rift might exist between them and these unfamiliar strangers, but he figured there were probably others more qualified to do that than himself.

In a quick rush of alarm, Talem realized that he hadn’t really planned this ‘tour’ out as much as he should have. He didn’t really know where to go first.

So, start where you think the foreigners would want to learn about most. His reasoning kicking in.

…I still don’t know what that is.

“So!” Talem almost blurted. “On more official matters, what exactly about our city would these men like to know first?” He gestured to the foreigners.

O, what a shining pinnacle of competent human leadership YOU are.

Perhaps he was a little rusty.

Rosemary relayed his query to the foreigners nonetheless. Who, for their part, didn’t outwardly seem offended by his blunder, to his relief.

Instead, they turned and appeared to discuss something amongst themselves. Rosemary turned to him.

“Uhh… Forgive me, sir… but I don’t think they know where to start. They are from a completely unfamiliar land, after all.”

There were times in which Lord-Mayor Talem felt like smacking himself.

Think, Talem. What is something ubiquitous to humans of Pyrrhia, but would most likely be unfamiliar to those from beyond it?

Actually, he had one idea.

“Perhaps we ought to begin our tour at the District of Houses?” He pitched.

***

>Within the District of House Headquarters, Safe Harbor_

“...So as you may see, every aspect of Safe Harbor pertaining to the practical is governed by the various Houses.” Talem paused to allow Rosemary to translate.

He, his escort, and the foreign procession, stood mostly alone in the center of Safe Harbor’s only other hub area besides the Safehold’s courtyard, the epicenter of the District of Houses. An open circular space where expensive cobblestone roads conjoined in a compass rose pattern at the very center of Safe Harbor’s city proper.

Surrounding the small circular courtyard, were the squat- as conforming to standard human architecture practices- but still relatively large buildings that were the administrative facilities of the Houses of Safe Harbor. And the source of many of his woes.

The usually very busy part of the city was mostly empty at this time, due in part to many onlookers having already been dispersed by the Archer Guard or because they made themselves scarce on their own volitions. These days, Lord-Mayor Talem only came down here when he was en route to personally chew out a House Head or some other official for violating the Administrator's Creed. An event that, while a break in the usual monotony of Safe Harbor life, wasn’t what any reasonable person would call ‘pretty.’

The few people that were around were those whose’ persistence to gawk at the foreigners outdid the persistence of the Archer Guard to try and shoo them off.

“So, we take it that this is not actually a literal housing district?” Interpreter Rosemary translated a question from one of the foreigners in important-looking attire.

The lord-mayor cocked his head a small amount, before he quickly realized the true meaning of the confusion.

“Ah! I see. The Houses of Safe Harbor are not ‘houses’ as in structures in which families make their residence, but are rather figurative bodies that perform organizational and administrative duties.” He racked his brain for a few moments, trying to come up with a more clear word.

“Perhaps you could call them ‘Guilds’ of sorts.” That was a term he hadn’t heard in a good while.

Rosemary relayed his message in English, but stopped and turned back to him. “Forgive me, but I don’t know that word in their language.”

“Which one?”

“Guild.” She said.

Oh. Well, that could be an issue.

“Hrmm…” Talem tried to come up with another word. “I suppose you could also call them a ‘bureau,’ are you familiar with that word?”

“Bureau…” The young woman considered for a few moments. “Actually, yes. I believe I do!”

She quickly turned and communicated whatever equivalent phrase the foreigners had for that. Talem wondered if he was imagining Cap-ten Drae’k eye twitching slightly at Rosemary’s mention of their phrase.

Perhaps they too indeed have something similar to our House system back in their homeland? Maybe this Cap-ten Drae’k was at least somewhat familiar with Lord-Mayor Talem’s pain.

Whatever the case may be, it became evident that the foreigners had pre-prepared a whole slew of questions for him, because that's what they spent the next nearly half-hour doing. Eventually, the lord-mayor found himself giving them a crash-course on how their entire House-system worked. He figured it shouldn’t take long; as it wasn’t actually a very complicated system at its core, which was by design. When it came to internal House politics, and when inter-House relations degraded, was when it got complicated.

Several of the foreigners furiously scribbled written notes as he talked, making use of strange pads and even stranger writing utensils that looked nothing like the quills he was used to using.

He explained the basics of how the system operated. For every major task that kept a city running there was a major House that oversaw that task. The House of Farmers consisted of all those that live in the city who tend to the soil or raise livestock. The House of Masonry consisted of those who worked with or carved stone. The House of Mining was where all those interested in prying metals from the earth found work. So on.

He explained how every House was responsible for its members. Especially for providing them with stable work and a means to settle disputes with their peers. Different Houses were required to provide for different things depending on their size or the nature of professions it attracted. All for a cut of whatever goods produced by its members or wealth procured from services. Which would then either be marketed to other Houses or more standard customers, exported to other human settlements in days when trade was more common (usually though contact with that settlement’s respective Houses), paid as tax tribute to the Mayoral Office, or wielded as a makeshift weapon to financially bludgeon other Houses whenever inter-House rivalries went hot.

He described how the Houses interacted with each other, the common citizens, and with him. Both in their optimal state, and how they did in reality. For instance, he explained how the Houses of Merchants and Farmers often worked hand-in-hand. Likewise with the House of Carpenters and House of Estate (or the House of More Houses, as it was nicknamed by commoners).

More often, though, did the Houses of Safe Harbor not get along with each other. While the usual stereotype of your typical Safe Harbor commoner was that of a fairly relaxed, laid-back individual that wouldn’t often respond to a slight by escalating to a fight (relatively speaking, anyway) it would be unfair to apply that same stereotype to the Houses of Safe Harbor, to say the least.

He explained how Houses could, rarely, merge together, such as how the House of Livestock Keepers merged with the House of Farmers just a few years ago. Or how they could split apart, like how the House of Fishers formed after it broke from the House of Mariners.

He also laid out how Houses could grow in power respective to other Houses, such as the House of Farmers and House of Carpenters becoming bigger following recent influxes of survivors from destroyed villages. Or how they could become weaker and even irrelevant. The most famous example being the aforementioned House of Mariners, a group of various sailors, navigators and cartographers of many kinds that was once one of Safe Harbor’s most powerful Houses. Now rendered almost completely defunct after the dragons started hunting down the boats that were their livelihood and passion. Indeed, the only reason that House still existed at all was thanks to direct support from Lord-Mayor Talem himself, because he couldn’t just let such an important part of Safe Harbor’s culture and legacy just die.

One of the foreigners asked, in heavily accented human Standard, to clarify what Lord-Mayor Talem meant by ‘inter-House rivalries.’ So he did.

While ‘mostly-cooperative’ was a pretty good term to describe the Houses in their resting state towards each other, there were times when tensions would grow exponentially. At least to the point of interfering with business-as-usual in the city state of affairs.

For most of Talem’s tenure as lord-mayor, the story was almost always the same. There would be a recession in the local economy for whatever reason, A House Head would go out and declare it the fault of meddling, scheming, sabotage or whatever from some other House they didn’t like at the time. The accused House would inevitably lose it and unofficially declare war, with many other Houses joining in to either settle their grievances with one of the two initiating Houses or to opportunistically go on the offensive against some other House for reasons known only to them.

With the days since Houses were able to hire their own mercenaries long since outlawed, and with the Archer Guard specifically trained and equipped to strictly enforce non-violence regulations, the only practical thing fighting Houses could do to one another was make business as miserably difficult as humanly possible.

And three moons, they were good at that. Nothing was considered under-the-belt. Embargos, sanctions, market manipulations, blackmail, extortions, espionage, actual sabotage, economic and legal foolery so unnecessarily complicated it would take hours to explain, you name it; they’ve perfected it.

Over the centuries, many lords, many of whom more strict than even the current Invincible Lord, have tried in vain to put a stop to their blazing antics. Those that did found themselves facing a challenge not unlike exterminating a rodent infestation in a crop field. Every loophole covered by the blow of the legislative hammer saw three more popping up somewhere else. All of them quickly discovered that no one; not each other; not their legal overseer; not even the dragons; could stand in the way of the time-honored human tradition of pissing each other off.

The only practical thing lords like Talem could do was encourage the commoners to withhold their savings until the hunt flew on, and keep the economic slap-fights from getting too out of hand.

Indeed, ‘keeping the Houses from getting out of control’ was one of Talem’s main jobs as Lord-Mayor, and even one of the principle reasons The Office of Lordship was even established in the first place.

The Lord-Mayor debated to himself whether or not he ought to share a story of a particularly amusing occurrence in one of these rivalries, but he figured he’d been rambling on long enough.

Refocusing on the foreigner's procession, which had been standing silently so far, the Safe Harbor citizens looked indifferent to Lord Talem’s spiel. It was common knowledge to them, after all. The foreigners themselves though, they seemed almost… confused. Giving him strange looks Like they’ve never heard of anything of the sort.

Perhaps they don’t have a similar system in the land they’re from after all.

The Standard-speaking foreigner spoke up again. “So, you manage legal disputes between these ‘Houses’?”

“When they arise, yes. Many of the Houses and their officials have become experts at keeping their interference with other Houses confined to legal gray areas, and are thus outside of my official responsibility.” Sometimes, though when a new house was formed or some new Head came to power, they’d make some blunder that Talem could legally get involved with, and he’d readily use the opportunity to make an example of them.

It seemed the foreigner wasn’t done. “What about legal disputes between common citizens? How are those managed?”

“The Houses themselves manage disputes between commoners. Whether it be with fellow House-members, or with people from other Houses.”

The young foreign man raised an eyebrow. Talem couldn’t really blame him for his skepticism, given the story he just gave.

However Talem also believed it was ultimately unfounded. The Houses of Safe Harbor, for all the trouble they gave him, did their jobs towards the commoners well, to their credit.

Although, that was perhaps less thanks to their own integrity and more to do with every other House being more than willing to exploit even the slightest hint of corruption or citizen dissatisfaction to the maximum extent to degrade their rivals.

In other words, they were tattlers.

It had been decades since the Office of Lordship had been confronted with a corruption case actually worthy of an official investigation.

Cap-ten Drae’k said something somewhat tentative sounding to Rosemary, who relayed to Talem: “He’s wondering if he could ask you a somewhat odd question.”

A little perplexed, Talem nodded his affirmation.

Cap-ten Drae’k then strung together a long series of words in his language, with Rosemary nodding along.

She turned to him. “He’s wondering about the nature of your name, sir. He noticed that it’s unlike many of the words and phrases that we use in our common speak in that it’s more similar to the words they use in their speech. He’s wondering why, and apologizes if its a rude question.” Talem could see in the young women’s eyes that she herself had a similar curiosity, but didn’t voice it.

Talem waved the last bit off, he was perfectly willing to answer the question, and had answered it many times before to people who were at least born into this culture. It was only reasonable that strangers such as these might be confused.

“Well you see, it’s been a bit of what you may call a ‘human cultural tradition’ to dub our leaders with magnanimous-sounding names. Helps to boost morale more than you’d think. This has gone on for most of our recorded history.”

The most blatant example of this was of course the line of Invincible Lords of the Indestructible City that went all the way back to the Bad Times.

“My name is a word from an ancient human language. You may have noticed that modern people traditionally name their children after physical things, creatures, plants, and phenomena in the real world. Perhaps the word that has become my name is similar. Unfortunately, I have no idea what that word originally meant. No one does, as the language it hailed from was long since destroyed. ”

Talem glanced to the ground, giving a small smile. “ The common theory- one that I, heh, I admit I myself subscribe too, is that my name is from a language that came from before the Bad Times, and from before the current era. The consensus from modern people is that even the mere act of uttering the ancient word from the dead language is an act of defiance against the forces that killed it.”

Rosemary relayed his little speech, doing a better job at keeping emotion out of her voice than Talem himself did,

“Which is?” the Standard-speaking foreigner asked.

Talem simply gestured with his left hand towards the sky, aiming for the direction the short battle with the Night Dragons had taken place. The foreigner quickly nodded his understanding.

Talem got an idea “May I in return ask of the nature for the name of Cap-ten Drae’k?”

His question was quickly relayed, and Talem wondered if he was imagining if the man in question’s gaze became ice for but a split second, before quickly unfreezing.

Rosemary once again translated what he said: “It’s a very generic name from where we’re from. Very common. You’d meet many others that share it.”

Talem, while perhaps not at his politically sharpest, knew a question-dodge when he heard it. He decided against pushing the issue, regardless.

From there, the lord-mayor of Safe Harbor and a collection of US Navy officers, who were still feeling very out-of-place, continued on their business.

***

>Excerpt from the memoirs of Lord Talem, acting mayor of Safe Harbor_

A short entry, tonight.

Today was a productive day, in my opinion. I didn’t have to deal with the House Heads or the List all day, which is always a plus. Instead, I personally showed some of the more important foreigners around the city. Certainly a break from my usual duties, but not an unwelcome one. There was a lot that we were able to get to, but also a lot that we were not. Only a certain amount of time in a day, after all.

I must make a note for myself to be better prepared and organized. The foreigners didn’t take offense to my blunders today. If it was a diplomatic envoy from the Indestructible City, they would have been scandalized. Never good for relations to insult each other's diplomats.

Although, that does raise questions regarding the nature of these foreigners and their fleet. Just who are they? They’re obviously not from Pyrrhia, else they wouldn’t be so unfamiliar with our language and customs. Not to mention we would have heard about them before their arrival.

I’ve suspected since their first night here that they’re some kind of merchant fleet. Mainly because of all their massive obvious cargo vessels. However, if that were true, then one would think they’d might be more willing to trade their goods, even if we were not their intended destination, which they haven’t at all yet.

Further from that point, one would also think that they’d be in a bigger hurry to leave, even if they are lost. Such a gargantuan fleet of ships surely must be of vital importance to whatever place they hail from. Even one of their hulking vessels could possibly take an entire century to construct, by my reckoning.

That also makes me wonder about the way the foreigners hold themselves, particularly the evidently highest-ranking among them. The way Cap-ten Drae’k holds himself and behaves reminds me a little of the Castle Archer Guard Regimenters and Commanders. There’s a similar no-nonsense air around him. That once again makes me wonder about the nature of the foreign fleet. One would think someone more important than their possible equivalent to a Regimenter would be at the head of such an imposing fleet of ships.

Speaking of strange questions, the foreigners themselves posed some during our tour today. Specifically, Cap-ten Drae’k asked about something called a ‘Kingdom’ while we were passing through the housing district from the District of Houses en route to the HarborForges. I’m still not fully sure what he was asking about. Something about a kind of super-state that Safe Harbor pays fealty to. I mean, the Indestructible City is more powerful than we are by many metrics, but we are obviously autonomous to each other. Maybe it’s something more common from where he’s from.

A bit of good news, though. The foreigners, all of them, had a LOT of very technical questions about Safe Harbor. Only some of which I was equipped on my part to answer. Things like the production rates of various commodities, the qualities of surrounding forest and soil, attributes of nearby water routes and weather patterns, and a whole slew of other things I can hardly recall anymore. (All I was able to answer them on was on Safe Harbor’s population counts, which they seemed to be surprised by. Not sure what kind of surprise, though.)

While that is undoubtedly a blunder on my part, it also meant that I was able to redirect much of their attention towards the various Houses of Safe Harbor. They’re the ones that have the knowledge these foreigners will want to know and will be able to easily organize whatever crazy plans these foreigners have in relation to the common citizens. Should they choose to, that is.

Whatever the case, it means that the House Heads and delegates will be off my back for a little while. Which is always great.